Non-Destructive Evaluation of In-Plane Waviness in Carbon Fiber Laminates Using Eddy Current Testing

Non-destructive detection of the in-plane waviness of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) laminates is of interest in a wide variety of industries, as wrinkles and other fiber alignment defects significantly impact the mechanical performance of the composites. This work demonstrates a method to d...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Matthew Newton, Tonoy Chowdhury, Ian Gravagne, David Jack
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-05-01
Series:Applied Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/10/6009
Description
Summary:Non-destructive detection of the in-plane waviness of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) laminates is of interest in a wide variety of industries, as wrinkles and other fiber alignment defects significantly impact the mechanical performance of the composites. This work demonstrates a method to detect in-plane wrinkles on a 5-ply unidirectional CFRP laminate with a customized eddy current testing (ECT) system. The results show that the ECT system is effective in detecting and quantifying in-plane waviness, and the results are compared to conventional X-ray computed tomography (CT) and ultrasonic testing (UT) methods. Using the anisotropic conductive nature of the aligned CFRP lamina, the ECT system was able to clearly detect throughout the part changes in the local fiber orientation, wave tangent angle, and wrinkle width.
ISSN:2076-3417